La clessidra è già vuota.

to be

Breakdown of La clessidra è già vuota.

• vuoto: empty
• già: already
• la clessidra: the hourglass

Questions & Answers about La clessidra è già vuota.

Why is it la clessidra and not just clessidra?

In Italian, the definite article is used more often than in English. La clessidra means the hourglass.

Here, la is the feminine singular definite article, used because clessidra is a feminine singular noun.

So:

• la clessidra = the hourglass
• una clessidra = an hourglass / an hourglass

Italian usually does not drop the article in a sentence like this.

Is clessidra a feminine noun? How can I tell?

Yes, clessidra is feminine, which is why the sentence uses:

• la before the noun
• vuota instead of vuoto

A learner might expect nouns ending in -a to be feminine, and that is often true. In this case, clessidra is indeed feminine.

You can see the agreement clearly:

• la clessidra
• vuota

Both are feminine singular.

Why is there an accent in è?